Sunday, December 30, 2012

Cowboys vs Redskins.
America's Team vs. The Over The Hill Gang
Doomsday Defense vs. The Hogs

And Pat Summerall calling the game. It seemed like they were on every Sunday.
Tom Landry, the only coach the Cowboys had ever had vs. George Allen a defensive wiz from the Bears who only liked veteran players.

The 70's through the 80's it was always the game to watch. It was fun, it was exciting, it was football.
Things change but memories live on.

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

time of yearshopping timeolden daysweather would putone in the mooddays grow shorternights grow longerhad ideaswhat to buylook in walletfiances meager

thoughts flittered aboutthinking what saidlikes and dislikesmany to buy forwhat to get

plenty of timewill get to itshopping at the mallshuddering at the thoughtnot man's fortehunter not gatherer

pressure buildsmust get donehow many daysuntil Christmas

oh mylast daytime gonetime wastedoff to shopshelves are baremust buy nowon the runstore to storeone for this oneone for that onesweating nowclock is tickingmusic in backgroundall a blurdragging bagsdoors close soonone left to buy foras see on TVthat will dodone

Monday, December 24, 2012

Contrary to the song for many people this is not the most wonderful time of the year,
Many find little joy in the holidays. Perfection is expected. You want to give presents but maybe you can't. You feel bad about that. There is an emptiness in not giving, one gets caught up in the selling season and the buying season. I am indifferent to it all.

When my kids were younger I took great joy in working on decorations around the house and loved the happiness it brought to my children. We never seem to have a lot of money but tried to stretch the dollar as much as possible to give quantity if not quality to each of them equally. Laughter from them made it all seem worth it.

As we moved from place to place, Christmas seemed to become competitive. One place had a contest for the best decorated house, first prize $100.00. I guesstimated two to three thousand dollars was spent to win the prize. It took the wind out of my sails. I no longer cared. The joy was gone.The pretend rich people had won.

I had written awhile back about Thanksgiving being the perfect holiday comprising of the basics, food, family and fun. Or football, same thing. Low expectations, easy to overachieve, All other holidays seem to cost more money wise and maybe a bit of ones spirit.

Presents soon will be forgotten, but the pleasure of receiving and maybe more so the pleasure of giving will live on.

If someone feels or acts blue or down this holiday season and yes especially on New Years, try to understand and give them an extra hug, the look of appreciation will be priceless and remembered always.

Sunday, December 23, 2012

I read some where that on an average day one sees or hears about 10,000 sales pitches a day. Thinking about it yesterday as I watched YouTube I think it might be low. Those annoying little ads that I dutifully clicked the X on to get rid of kept popping up again and again.

Even though I wasn't interested in the sales pitch I realized that as I looked for the X to clear it I was forced somehow to read some of it to find the X.

Again and again. and again.

There is no such thing as free. Free Google, Free Facebook, Free news, Free sports are all brought to you by someone with something to sell. The government is more invasive in your life but the ad people are working on it.

I do my best to ignore it. When watching TV I will have two channels to switch back and forth when a commercial comes on. Even then I may linger too long before switching.

When you shop at the mall, advertising swirls around you. I read recently there are robots scanning you, your face, body type and so on, analyzing everything they can to figure out how to get you to buy, buy, buy.

I remember a scene in Minority Report in which Tom Cruise is walking through a mall and holographic ads are popping up to sell only to him. We are close to that now.

The downside to all this is to get away from it all one must become reclusive to the world around us. I am not sure if that would be a bad thing. It would be pretty boring I guess. But there is art, books, and music to fill the hours away. It should be enough, yes?

We do go through life selling ones self, services and so on to survive. Social interaction. I guess there is a need for others. It is not all together blissful being alone.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Hope springs eternal. You have all heard that phrase. But as you get older you try to temper your excitement because disappointments can be crushing and you start keeping your happy days and sad days to your self.

I love finding humor in things or actions that no one else notices. A quiet inner smile will suffice.

I love to laugh so hard that tears come to my eyes. Some bloggers have that gift. Thank you!

There is many a day that I give spell check a run for its money. Somedays, we both give up.

What is the secret to the success of Victoria's Secret? Curves. A bag of bones with clothes draped on them is not appealing. I feel sorry for the models who are not allowed to eat.

On occasion I will get a compliment on my writing. It is always a surprise but I thankfully accept it. It does happen strangely enough after struggling to write a story down to begin with.

I have no idea why I end many sentences with a preposition.

My children, which are now 23, 25 and 27 are now starting to feel old. There are no more age dates to wait for anymore and time now flies instead of dragging. Just wait!

I hope ten years from now I feel as sharp mentally then as I do this morning. Only physically, do I long for my youth, thirty years ago would suffice. Many parts of my life I would decline to do over.

Most math courses are taught to keep math teachers employed. I have yet to calculate the time, speed and miles of two trains traveling in opposite directions.

How come a, b,c and x and y are the stars in problems and most other letter are left out? I understand that Q and U have issues but the rest of them...

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Growing up with the Rolling Stones and the whole British Invasion thing, I thought I knew it all. Maybe at one time, maybe. I enjoyed this documentary a lot. Too long for most, but after just watching and listening I thought I would share.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

It is true that you can feel like in outsider in a group. Lat night it was our Christmas party and I almost didn't attend. At the last minute I said yes. When you are not producing you are on the outside looking in.

My perception I know. I grabbed a seat along the wall and tried not to interact much instead chose to people watch instead. People have a tendency to interact in small groups, looking for a certain comfort level and camaraderie amongst their fellow workers.

I did behave myself because I had a long trip ahead of me, a 28 mile trip back home, so I used my two drink tickets, a few beers, and left.

Fellow workers act differently in a social situation, liquor flowing, bar scene. What was interesting was how everyone dressed, especially the women. The peacock look was in last night. Definitely a big difference in how they looked and acted. I am sure things progressed through out the night. Careers can be made or broken at an office party. I wonder for whom.

I was not charming last night, just acted very low key and after the raffle, quietly moved on. I will look back at the strange year I have had and look forward to comparing this year to the upcoming year.

Friday, December 14, 2012

I was invited to attend a network at a grand opening of a full service salon last night. Music playing and champagne pouring, my kind of night out. Except I had never done anything like this before. When I pulled into the parking lot, I parked in the corner so that no one would notice my old pick up truck next to the BMW's. I am not used to wearing a blazer anymore, so as I walked in I draped it over my arm, very Gary Grant like.

I signed in at got my raffle ticket and wandered in through the crowd looking for the lady who invited me when a pretty lady came up to me and told me she was my new friend and would give me a tour. (She was from Romania and when she talked I knew I was in love!) As we walked around I was showered with compliments.

The first one from a lady who said she loved my hair! (Really!) I thanked her and said, yes and it's all mine. She said that made it even nicer. Someone loved my tie, my smile, and so on. I did my usual hand kissing of course, part of what I did back in my bar tending days. Yes, oh so charming. Someone asked if I worked in the plaza where the event was. Someone wanted to know if I was in banking. Quite a head turner night for me. I met several nice people and exchanged a few business cards. They did hold the raffle and I came close
several times to winning, smilingly complaining to the woman running the event.

A photographer came around with camera in hand and I ended up in a picture with the owner of the spa. I am worried that the camera will add 40 lbs. to how I look. (not photogenic) Late on I did introduce myself to her so she would not be wondering who I am. She did ask for my card later on. The photo will be in the local newspaper somewhere down the road. A star was born!

Then it was time for me to go. I was invited to another, different event next Tuesday and yes I will attend. Even though my job has not been productive, this ended the night on a positive note.

Sunday, December 9, 2012

I have come up against a financial crossroads in this late stage of my life. I have to say with all honesty my career choice hasn't worked out. Sometimes one needs a bit of luck to make things work out in sales. I have needed luck here and there and luck has sat on the sidelines, giggling at me. What a knee slapper. The plus and minuses of commission sales.

I have been surprised at the lack of professionalism on the part of many businessmen or women that I have run in to, a lack of commitment one would expect. Also what has surprised me is the inability on many to say yes or no.
Waffling indecisively.

But maybe it is my fault after all. People buy when they see value or a sense of need. I have failed to convey that.
I have however grown in my social skills and my boldness in meeting people and maybe, just maybe, something good will come of that.

The people I work with want me to succeed, partly because they like me but part of it is the business cycle, to make the group grow as a hole. In business, without growth there is death. And financially, I am dying.

I have run out of money tricks. My aching knees tell me that all the options out there are not good ones and the ones on the short list certainly don't pay well, which means cobbling together mediocre jobs to pay the bills.

Friday, December 7, 2012

Being today is Pearl Harbor Day, (notice how many holidays revolve around wars) and according to the internet only two weeks until the Mayan end of the world calendar, let us look a moment at the ways the world will end shall we?

The ticking time bomb

The Yellowstone caldera. According to people in the know, the Yellowstone caldera (volcano) erupts every 650,000 years and is 35,000 years behind schedule. Now considering that 35,000 years ago is when man started walking on the planet, the time frame is very small. But the impact on the planet and especially the USA, will be huge. a quick link Volcano Questions & Answers - Yellowstone National Park

Meteor

We all know by now the impact of an meteor and what it would do to the planet. The amazing thing is that it doesn't have to hit to be destructive, many times blowing up before impact, the results being the same. In Russia in the early 1900's , something came down in Siberia and flatten 85 million trees.
a quick link Tunguska event - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Death By Asteroid

Huge difference being hit by an asteroid. About the size of an aircraft carrier. Dwarfs the devastation created by a meteor. It is not the devastation caused by the impact but the nuclear winter caused by all the dust that would circle the earth for years, causing death and construction and starvation because without sunlight there would be no crops, no animals, and people would starve to death. A very bad way to go.a quick link Death by Asteroid , and How to Avoid It

The usual suspects
Then again you have earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanos. Tsunamis are the results of earthquakes in the oceans, the end result is a monstrous wave hitting land and destroying everything in its path and like a monster, drawing the destruction back into the sea. Volcanos and earthquakes happen because of extreme pressure building up over time. When they happen is hard to predict and of course very destructive, the closer to the epicenter the worse you would be. They happen because the planet is still alive at the core and when it is not all life would cease to exist. One might say a difficult marriage.

The Sun

The sun goes through predetermined cycles of activity and phases and most of what it spews at the earth is repelled by our atmosphere, However gamma ray blasts are very destructive and all bets are off if it would hit us directly.

Something will happen to us someday. When, no one knows for certain. It might happen all at once or it might take hundreds of years. Dinosaurs were around for millions of years. We won't be, that you can count on. Life as we know it will be considered a grand experiment that went wrong.

The Every 26,000 Year Planet Alignment
I believe the Mayan calendar just resets it self and a new cycle starts once again. The distance between the planets are so huge the fact that they align should not be a problem. They have shown that the tilt of the axis of Earth always changes a bit over time however the change of the north and south pole might cause problems, however it all takes time and mankind might survive,

Finally
I plan on golfing on December 22nd and I have never missed a tee time, ever! So we will be okay, I promise you.

Sunday, December 2, 2012

It has been quite awhile since I did one like this, so now, while on weekend work release, here it goes.

There is nothing like being up very early in the morning, shower time, wander through the dark house avoiding the chewed rawhide scattered everywhere, happily walk into the kitchen and step right into a warm dog poop land mine. In the dark...

As a recent mini beer meeting proved once again, a good time can be had with someone you rarely see.

One can feel determination building to succeed if one removes all other options. Win or go home?

If something bad happens and you don't overreact, the bad loses its power.

People don't know or care what kind of effort it takes to win or succeed, all they look at is the box score for the results.

Pioneers on the wagon trail didn't circle the wagons to fight the Indians better, they did that so the cattle and horses wouldn't run away.

Nothing like drinking down a large cup of tea and as you got to the bottom notice a bug! a big bug...

Jay Cutler plays quarterback for the Chicago Bears. Many people don't like his attitude, I do, and he wins.
Just maybe, I am like him.

A temperature of 80 in December is not as hot as 80 in July. I am sure there is a reason, damned if I know why.

I marvel at people in Australia wondering what country around the world to visit this year and I am lucky to visit Chicago.

As I have gotten older, the older women have gotten prettier, why is that?